Former BNP adviser Manjur Alam to rejoin Awami League?

There is whisper in the air of Chittagong that former city mayor M Manjur Alam, who became an adviser to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in 2010, might go back to the Awami League, having lost his position.

The Awami League’s President for Chittagong city, ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury is keen to get back Manjur, his long-time political disciple.

The rumours started swirling after the observance of the National Mourning Day on August 15 by Manjur’s organisation “Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Memorial Foundation”.

When asked whether he is going to join the ruling party, Manjur laughed: “Nothing is final yet. I am currently engaged in social work with the values of Bangamata [the wife of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman] and the Bangabandhu.”

He told bdnews24.com: “Mohiuddin Chowdhury is senior to us all. He is my leader. I will consider myself lucky if he shows interest to get me in.”

On the possibilities, Mohiuddin said: “I wish that everyone in this country will be associated with the Awami League. This is the Bangabandhu’s country. So I wish that everyone will be inspired by his ideology. It can happen if he [Manjur] wants.”

Manjur, who was a BNP-backed candidate, defeated Mohiuddin by around 1,00,000 votes in the 2010 Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) elections.

A month into the election, Mohiuddin started a case against the elected mayor alleging that he had concealed information in his affidavit with the Election Commission.

“People stay with me although I get angry at times. But those who know me understand that. I don’t have enemies. He [Manjur] will come...if I show my love for him,” Mohiuddin told bdnews24.com.

After being elected as the mayor of Chittagong in 2010, Manjur came to Dhaka to greet BNP chief Khaleda with flowers. He was appointed as an adviser to her afterwards.

Mohiuddin, elected mayor of Chittagong for three times since 1994, had refrained from making any comment while the competence of Manjur as the mayor in his last term was called into question.

Manjur was an Awami League-backed ward councillor in Chittagong during Mohiuddin’s term.

In April last year, Manjur ran for re-election as CCC mayor but boycotted the voting alleging large-scale rigging in the port city. He also announced that he was calling time on his political career following the polls.

Manjur failed to find a place in the National Executive Committee and National Standing Committee of the BNP, which were announced on Aug 6.

Reached for comment two days after the announcement, Manjur said: “I have announced my decision to go into retirement. Now I am fully absorbed in social work. Why would they take me?”

In the last CCC polls, Awami League General Secretary AJM Nasir Uddin, who is known as “anti-Mohiuddin”, defeated Manjur.